. >> reporter: the united states is less than a week away from going over the so-called fiscal cliff. they say if president obama and congress don't make a deal we will almost certainly see a recession. do you buy that, steven? >> the congressional budget office is a nonpartisan group that does this and says we will in fact have an immediate rescission. they say that we come out of a short, sharp recession stronger than we would be if we didn't go into that recession in the first place. we stop borrowing money from the future to prop us up now. we have the immediate problems but in the long term we are in gets shape. that's what they are grappling this. how do they best structure this to do the least amount of damage now but get us to the good economy in the future. >> reporter: if you look up a research paper from the president's own economist you'll find in the long run we are healthier, short run, yeah, it's painful. is that what motivates some of the republicans that, you know, what are called chuckle heads, but maybe in the end they are wisdom heads. >> that is certainly part of